Blogs Presentation versus Graphics

http://www.bit-tech.net/blog/2009/02/23/presentation-versus-graphics/

 

"Honestly, a lot of developers have done it better than Valve."

Someone better then Valve? Blasphemy, I say!!! May the Gods of Gaming strike down upon thee and smite thine steam account.
(Sorry, waiting for TF2 update so I'm in idolize mode).
Anyway. Glad to see someone else who sees things this way. I like to liken it to photography vs painting. A photo can be very good at capturing reality in all sharpness yet are rarely considered art. A painting on the other hand has something else to it, a personality of sorts, a painting can have a soul.
Mind you a camera in the hands of a skilled photographer can be as powerful as a brush in the hands of a painter. And before the advent of photography, painting (of important people) was as common as taking a passport photo, but I digress.
On the subject of idSoftware, they been releasing "tech demos" ever since quake. Same goes for Crytek. Excellent on graphics, decent to play but they lack personality (though I must confess, aside from DOOM (original), Quake and FarCry I haven't played their other games and base my claims on what I read.)